Tamara Kotevska


Tamara Kotevska is a Macedonian filmmaker best known for her 2019 documentary Honeyland.

Early life

Kotevska was born in Prilep, Republic of Macedonia. She earned a scholarship to study abroad in Tennessee for her junior year in high school. She graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, with an emphasis in documentary film.

Career

Together with Ljubomir Stefanov, Kotevska spent three years in Bekirlija, North Macedonia filming the documentary about a female wild beekeeper, Hatidze. The film was originally going to be a documentary short about the Bregalnica river region when they came across the beekeeper. Kotevska and Stefanov previously worked together on another documentary, Lake of Apples.
Honeyland won three awards at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and received two nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards: Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film. It is the second Macedonian film to earn an Oscar nomination after Before the Rain.